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Narrator/Announcer
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Sam Spade
Welcome back everyone to 1001 radio crime solvers.
Narrator/Announcer
This is your host, John Hagedorn.
Sam Spade
And now, the Adventures of Sam Spade.
Narrator/Announcer
Enjoy the Adventures of Sam Spade Detective brought to you by Wild Root Cream Oil Hair Tonic, the non alcoholic hair tonic that contains lanolin. Wild Root Cream Oil again and again, the choice of men who put good grooming first.
Effie
Sam Spade Detective Agency.
Sam Spade
This is Sam Blackleg Spade, the third most dangerous gambler on the Barbary Coast.
Effie
Oh, Sam, not horses again.
Sam Spade
Horses, women and the gaming tables Evie the versions of the elite.
Effie
Well, divert yourself with this, Sam. The phone company has sent the pink notice.
Sam Spade
Aha. Pay it no mind, sweetheart. We are healed. We have hit the cashier's cage, annexed the pot, and we're standing on velvet.
Effie
Sam, are you sober?
Sam Spade
Definitely. Velvet warm too.
Effie
Sam, from where are you calling from?
Sam Spade
You're wrong, Effie. It's a drugstore. Stay where you are. I'll be right down to deal out my report on the hot hundred grand capers.
Narrator/Announcer
Dashiell Hammett, America's leading detective fiction writer and creator of Sam Spade, the Hard Boiled Private Eye, and William Spear, radio's outstanding producer director of mystery and crime drama. Join their talents to make your hair stand on end with the Adventures of Sam Spade presented by the makers of Wild Root Cream Oil for the hair. It's smart to buy things the whole family can use, isn't it? That's why I say it's smart to buy Wild Root Cream Oil Hair tonic. To mom, to dad, to the children. Wild Root Cream Oil Is really a friend indeed. Non alcoholic Wild Root Cream Oil with lanolin. Grooms the hair neatly and naturally relieves dryness, removes loose, ugly dandruff. I hope you have a big family sized bottle of Wild Root Cream Oil in your home. Get Wildroot Cream Oil Hair tonic. Again and again, the choice of men who put good grooming first. And now, with Howard Duff starring as Spade Wildroot brings to the air the greatest private detective of them all. In the Adventures of Sam Spade.
Sam Spade
Date September 19, 1948 to robbery detail, San Francisco Police. Attention. Sergeant Walsh. From Samuel Spade license number 137596. Dear Joe, here's the rundown on that hot hundred grand. It started pleasantly enough when my secretary, Ms. Effie. Cute little mouse. Eased into my private office, closed the door behind her and leaned back against it with that air of pained resignation, which generally means, as a customer outside, that she doesn't approve of, but that I'll see her anyway.
Effie
It's up to you, Sam. She's very well dressed and I imagine she can afford you.
Sam Spade
How do you deduce that?
Effie
Well, she dropped her purse. I didn't get time to count it all. But there was a hundred dollar bill on top.
Sam Spade
Well, sure. In Effie.
Effie
Sam.
Sam Spade
Go ahead, Sam.
Effie
Oh, I don't know, Sam. Sometimes. Well, there's just money.
Sam Spade
No, no, that's one of the reasons I hire you. What's the matter with her?
Effie
Nothing. That's just it, Sam. She's very good looking, cultivated and very kind and considerate. And she seems sincerely troubled.
Sam Spade
You mean her act is a little too good?
Effie
I felt that too, Sam.
Sam Spade
Thanks, angel. I'll keep that in mind. Tell her to come in.
Effie
All right, Sam. Mr. Spade will see you, Mrs. Kilcorse. Thank you.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Spade.
Sam Spade
My pleasure. Won't you sit down?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Oh, thank you. I'm Lorraine Kilcorse, Mr. Spade. It's about my husband, Leonard Kilcorse.
Sam Spade
Husband?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Oh, we've only been married a short time. It was a quiet ceremony at the San Sidro Mission. Leonard didn't want to subject me to any publicity. The difference in our ages, you know.
Sam Spade
You mean you want me to keep it a secret?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Oh, no, no. Except for the newspapers, of course. Naturally. All of Leonard's friends know he doesn't
Sam Spade
have many, from what I've heard.
Lorraine Kilcorse
I thought it strange, too, that such a prominent man should have such a small circle of acquaintances. I met him only a short time before I married him. He's been very kind and absolutely devoted to me. And I suppose I should feel ashamed of myself for coming to you, but there are so many things about him that are mysterious that I. Sometimes I can't seem to find my handkerchief.
Ernie Nogales
Here.
Sam Spade
Kleenex.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you.
Sam Spade
I take it you're not a San Francisco girl.
Lorraine Kilcorse
No, no, I met him at a Jude Ranch.
Sam Spade
Well, maybe I can clear up some of your mysteries for free. The reason your husband doesn't have many friends is because they keep dropping dead.
Lorraine Kilcorse
I don't understand you.
Sam Spade
Forget it. He's a big public servant. He's built a lot of sidewalks. The streets of this city are paid with his good intentions. His name is on a thousand manhole covers. If the names of his former business associates land on headstones, it's nothing to me. I got my own racket. Well, what?
Lorraine Kilcorse
I think my husband is paying blackmail to someone.
Sam Spade
Aha. And upon what do you base your suspicions, Mrs. King?
Lorraine Kilcorse
It started about a month ago. He began withdrawing large sums from our joint account. First it was 10,000.
Effie
Then.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Then 20,000. And last week, 50,000. And this morning he closed out the balance of the account, $100,000.
Sam Spade
Well, he's got it to spend, Mrs. Kilcourt.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Well, I won't pretend the money doesn't interest me, but what's behind it, Mr. Spade? Each time he withdraws these cash sums, he leaves the house without a word to me and sometimes doesn't return until dawn. My husband is not fond of nightlife, Mr. Spade. Only a desperate situation could induce him to leave the house after dark.
Sam Spade
Yeah, so I've heard. They say that's how he kept his health as long as he has. All right, you want me to trail him, find out what he does with the money. Just one question. Why'd you pick me for the job?
Lorraine Kilcorse
I. Why, Your reputation.
Sam Spade
That's local. You say you're new in San Francisco?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Well, I. I do read the local papers. Your picture was in only two weeks ago.
Sam Spade
Yeah, well, that caver doesn't help my reputation.
Lorraine Kilcorse
I like your looks. A nice, honest face, a man I could trust.
Sam Spade
Don't buy that.
Lorraine Kilcorse
And I'm sentimental, too. Your picture reminded me of someone who was very dear to me. My brother. Of course. You are nothing like him, really, but. But you do look alike. I suppose that sounds like a silly woman's reason.
Sam Spade
Yeah. What's your address?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Well, I have a little place of my own out on Divisidero. The Bellevo Apartments near Normandy Terrace. You'd better keep in touch with me there. I don't want Leonard to Know the kill? Course. Mansion is at 1316 Clarendon.
Sam Spade
1316.
Lorraine Kilcorse
He returns from his office around 6 in the evening. Do you have a car?
Sam Spade
No. I need one.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Well, I don't know where he may go now. Here are the keys to my car. It's parked in front of the main entrance. A gray Plymouth. He won't recognize the car. It's my brother's. Now, about your fee.
Sam Spade
100 bucks. Now if I need more, I'll leave. You know, I had an uneasy feeling I would need more. The last detective that tried to follow Leonard Kilcors had hospital insurance. I don't. But I'm a gambler at heart. So I parked Lorraine's Plymouth across the street from the Kilcore mansion and waited. At 9pm then Mr. Kilcorse, much, much too old for her, came out the front door and flagged down a taxi. I made an illegal U turn and followed. The trail ended across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. It was a country club type building on top of a hill overlooking the bay. It did business under the name of Ernie Nogales Racket Club. The racket had nothing to do with tennis. It came from two sources. The moans and groans of the customers losing money at the roulette wheels and crap tables and the glad hand the management threw at my quarry as I followed him in.
Ernie Nogales
Mr. Kilcore, surprised to see you. Since when you go out of the dark?
Leonard Kilcorse
Well, I thought a little nightlife might agree with me.
Ernie Nogales
That sounds like you, Mr. Kilco. I didn't know you better. I think he was afraid to go out night.
Leonard Kilcorse
Well now, I was thinking of buying this place to retire to, but I figured it'd be cheaper to win it at your roulette table. What's your limit here?
Ernie Nogales
10,000. But for you, wide open the sky.
Leonard Kilcorse
A hot hundred grand for a starter.
Ernie Nogales
Well, anytime they catch you with hot money, Mr. Kilcore, come over to the cashier. I sell you the chips myself.
Sam Spade
I didn't have to bother making myself inconspicuous. Everybody in the joint stopped playing to watch Kilcorse while he shoved his hundred grand roll through the cash and scooped up four stacks of thousand buck chips. Make your bets, please.
Leonard Kilcorse
All right, you spin that wheel, huh?
Dick Foley
How much you got there?
Leonard Kilcorse
25 grand. Any objections?
Sam Spade
Is that okay, Mr. Nogales?
Ernie Nogales
Spinach o. I'm covering through the table, Percy.
Dick Foley
Okay, sir.
Leonard Kilcorse
Around and round the little ball goes
Sam Spade
15 pace 15 and the red.
Ernie Nogales
Maybe next time, Mr. Kirko. Why don't you double up, Play the red and the black.
Sam Spade
Saber.
Leonard Kilcorse
I'll stay with the numbers. 50,000 on 15.
Narrator/Announcer
There.
Sam Spade
Spin it.
Ernie Nogales
It's okay, Joe. I'm still covering.
Sam Spade
Well, it's your money, Mr. Nogales. Number four, page number four. And the red again.
Leonard Kilcorse
25 grand more on 15.
Ernie Nogales
Look, Mr. Kilco, go on, enjoy yourself. Taking off your income tax. But please spend those. Spread them out a little there. Those chips, huh? It looks bad for the house.
Leonard Kilcorse
What kind of a joint is this? Can't you cover the bets?
Ernie Nogales
Okay, Joe. He asked for it.
Dick Foley
Okay, sir.
Sam Spade
I didn't wait to see where the little ball went on the last spin of the wheel. I would have made a side bet with any taker that Kilcorse wanted to lose that hundred bucks. I would also have made book. He knew I was following him. As I left the table and walked out of the club, I braced myself for what usually comes next. There would either be a dead body in the car or somebody would crease my noggin with a SAP. But nothing happened. I switched on the headlights and stood in the glare of them for fully a minute. But nobody even shot at me. I flushed the shrubbery. No gunman checked the ignition wires. No booby traps. Driving back to town, I racked my brain for some way to bring them out into the open. I felt like a man with his life savings, all on one number, waiting for the wheel to stop spinning. Which wasn't far from the truth. Not much of a cliffhanger, but the best we could do. This week,
Narrator/Announcer
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Sam Spade
Yeah? This Mrs. Kilcos's apartment? Yeah. She here? Yeah. Well, can I come in?
Ernie Nogales
Yeah.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Tommy?
Narrator/Announcer
Yeah.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Who is that? Mr. Spade?
Sam Spade
Yeah.
Effie
Oh, this is.
Lorraine Kilcorse
This is the detective I was telling you about, Tommy. Remember?
Sam Spade
Yeah.
Lorraine Kilcorse
The one who looked so much like you.
Sam Spade
Yeah. No.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Oh, excuse me. This is my brother, Tommy Lane.
Sam Spade
Yeah, I mean Tommy.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Won't you run down to the corner and buy me some cigarettes for about 20 minutes? I have something to talk over with Mr. Spade.
Ernie Nogales
Yeah,
Sam Spade
Nice boy, your brother. Small vocabulary, but big feet.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Well, he. He's shy. Now, what did you find out about Mr. My husband, Mr. Spade.
Sam Spade
He dropped 100 grand in a gambling joint. Ernie Nogales Racket club. You know it?
Lorraine Kilcorse
No, but I know Ernie Nogales. I knew him in Reno before I met Leonard. He lost his license there for running a crooked wheel.
Sam Spade
The way Kilcorse was playing tonight, that wheel didn't have to be crooked. He was trying to lose that hundred grand.
Lorraine Kilcorse
But why? Why would he do a thing like that?
Sam Spade
One of two reasons. Either he's paying off to Nogales or he's paying off to somebody else. And Nogales is the go between.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Well, I don't believe it. Ernie is a crooked gambler, but he doesn't touch blackmail.
Sam Spade
And your husband isn't stupid enough to drop a hundred grand in three turns of a wheel. Anyway, I'm not tangling with him and or the Ernie Nogales mob for a hundred bucks of your money or anybody else's. Here, take it. And here are your car keys.
Lorraine Kilcorse
No, no, wait, please. You can't desert me now.
Sam Spade
Why not?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Well, I haven't told you everything. I'd hoped I wouldn't have to.
Sam Spade
About your brother.
Lorraine Kilcorse
How did you know?
Sam Spade
The only place you get a green suntan is in a pokey. Besides, he acts kind of stir crazy. Spent a little time in solitary, didn't he?
Lorraine Kilcorse
He won't talk about it. But that's it, Sam. That's why Leonard is paying that blackmail money to Nogales.
Sam Spade
You just said Nogales wouldn't touch blackmail. Any other corrections you'd like to make in your copy before we proceed?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Yes. Well, I might as well tell you everything.
Sam Spade
Why not?
Lorraine Kilcorse
I knew when I came to you this morning that my husband was paying this money to Nogales. I knew because I asked him to
Sam Spade
you and Ernie Nogales are working together.
Lorraine Kilcorse
I'm not that rotten.
Sam Spade
I didn't say you were. But you're a rotten liar. There's that much in your favor.
Lorraine Kilcorse
But I'm telling the truth. Now, Sam, you must believe me. Everything that has happened is my fault. I persuaded Nogales to give my brother a job in his place in Reno. They quarreled, and when he got closed down, he blamed Tommy. He swore he'd kill him when he got out of prison. That's why I begged my husband to pay him to save Tommy's life.
Sam Spade
Who did write on Nogales about that crooked wheel at Reno?
Lorraine Kilcorse
I did. That's why I feel responsible. Leonard is so fine, so. So generous. But I can't let him go on paying for my mistake.
Sam Spade
Yeah. Like you said, he's gonna run out of money.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Look at me, Sam. Do I look like the kind of a woman to whom money means everything in the world?
Sam Spade
No, but you're looking at me, not at Kilcors.
Lorraine Kilcorse
You're laughing at me. Oh, I know what you think. Perhaps I did make a mistake in marrying Leonard. But he was so kind, so considerate, like my father.
Sam Spade
Everybody reminds you of your relatives.
Lorraine Kilcorse
You don't believe my story?
Sam Spade
Wow. Since you asked.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Well, all right, then. Here's the truth. I'm really Jack the Ripper's granddaughter. My parents were terribly wealthy. I harpooned my mother in her Beverly Hills swimming pool, set fire to my father with a $50,000 negotiable bond and eloped with John Wilkes Booth. That brings us up to 1865. Shall I go on?
Sam Spade
Don't stop. It's great.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Oh, get out of here. Get out of here and leave me alone.
Sam Spade
After you've told me all your secrets. I'm not that rotten.
Lorraine Kilcorse
You won't help me. You never intended to. Why go on torturing?
Sam Spade
Oh, now, stop it, please. Please. I believe you. I believe all your stories. Now, what is my next smart move?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Sam, the only way to stop Ernie Nogales is to prove that he's running a crooked wheel. Then he'd pay back all that blackmail money, and he wouldn't dare lay a hand on Tommy.
Sam Spade
Well, it's going to be hard to prove. And expensive. I'll have to lose a little on that wheel before I can figure the way it's rigged. How much can you invest?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Well, I. I have about a thousand dollars of my own.
Sam Spade
With you.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Yes. Here, you take it.
Sam Spade
Mmm. Smells nice.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Sam.
Sam Spade
Yeah.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Sam, after all this is over, and after I've put Things to right with Leonard. I should have told him before this, but I owed him so much, I. Oh, Sam, I'm so glad it's you.
Sam Spade
Yeah, me too, angel.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Go now, darling, before I beg you not to.
Sam Spade
What time does that joint close?
Effie
Well.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Well, it runs all night, I think.
Dick Foley
Good.
Sam Spade
Let's stay up late and raid the icebo. Around 2 in the AM when I low geared the Plymouth up the long, steep driveway to Ernie Nogales Racket club. Backed into the parking space nearest the road with a car headed downhill for a quick getaway just in case. And I went in. The joint was still going full blast. I bought 500 bucks worth of chips, swag it over to the table where Kilcors had dropped his hundred grand and nonchalantly flipped the blue chip onto the red.
Dick Foley
Appellee Chabet, ladies and gentlemen. Make your game.
Sam Spade
Okay, that's all.
Leonard Kilcorse
Around and round the little ball goes.
Sam Spade
I didn't look to see where the little ball went. Most of the money was on red, so it was bound to turn up black. A red page, number 15.
Dick Foley
Place your bets, please. Make your game, ladies and gentlemen.
Ernie Nogales
Around.
Sam Spade
The chips were spread around more the next turn. So I stacked 100 at the bottom of the 1 to 34 column. With a crooked wheel, my hundred made it the best bet. The loser and 19.
Dick Foley
And the red wins again.
Sam Spade
I plunked 500 down on number five and raked in 17,500. I left my original bet on the table. When the little ball fell into the pocket. I was 35,000 bucks to the good from my point of view, but not from my clients. I doubled my bet and looked apprehensively around. There were no surly characters edging up behind me. In fact, the only surly character in sight was Ernie Nogales. And he looked happy. That didn't make much sense. When my Bankroll got to 105,000, I played a hunch. I threw five grand of it back on the table and lost it. That made a kind of sense. I cashed in the rest of my chips and squeezed the 100 grand US currency into my inside pocket. If anybody aim for my heart, it was thick enough to stop the slug, which was some comfort. But what I saw when I walked out to the parking lot was no comfort at all. I'd gotten just a glimpse of it through some trees. A sedan backed into a driveway halfway down the hill. It was blacked out except for five glowing cigar ends that showed through the windows. I could think of only one reason for five cigar smokers to be parked in that particular spot at that particular moment. The Plymouth is where I had parked it, pointing straight down the hill. I slammed the door but didn't get in. Then I listened. The car down the hill was getting ready too. I cracked the door of the Plymouth wide enough to get my arm inside and pressed the starter with the heel of my hand. I switched on the lights, pushed the clutch with my left hand, used my right to shift it into low. Then I pulled the hand throttle out all the way and let it go.
Ernie Nogales
What's the big idea busting into my office?
Sam Spade
We're gonna have a talk.
Ernie Nogales
Now, Gallus, please don't wave that heater at me. Makes me nervous. I don't like guns.
Sam Spade
I don't either. That's why I'm here. Put your hands on top of the desk and keep them there.
Ernie Nogales
All right. Give me back that roll. I give you clean money for. It was a gamble, so I lost. Can you blame me?
Sam Spade
Where'd you get this money?
Ernie Nogales
I buy it.50 cents on the dollar. I don't ask where it came from, but I read the papers. I figured it was that ship row, that shipyard payroll job a few days back. Like it just fell in my lap. I figured, make 50 grand instead of kill. Course five. I guess that was dirty trick. You just out of stir, Thomas?
Sam Spade
I had news for you, Nogales. I didn't know this money was hot. And I am not Tommy Lane.
Ernie Nogales
No? Then what?
Sam Spade
Private Dick. Tommy's sister hired me to take the fall for him. Look, I got most of the caper. Kilcors wanted to pay Tommy 100 grand. You rigged the wheel so Kilcos would lose it one night and Tommy would win it back the next night. Now, what was Kilcors paying him off for?
Ernie Nogales
No caper. Legitimate. He was signed up for bribing a public official.
Sam Spade
You mean he was the payoff man for Killcourse's contracting firm? Sure.
Ernie Nogales
Legitimate business. The grand jury went out after Kilcorse. Tommy took the rap, that's all. For a price.
Sam Spade
Yeah. 100 grand. Thanks, Nogales. That's all I needed.
Lorraine Kilcorse
I was afraid I might be too late.
Sam Spade
You are, sweetheart.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Oh, I have so many things to explain. Where can you talk?
Sam Spade
Right in here.
Lorraine Kilcorse
But who's this man?
Sam Spade
Why, that's your old sweetie from Reno. Earning the gallows, remember?
Ernie Nogales
What's the matter with you two? You crazy?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Oh, Sam, I should have told you the truth from the beginning.
Sam Spade
Check. Well, Nogales, Jan, I can understand. Why did you tell me you were killed? Kors? Wife.
Lorraine Kilcorse
I was desperate. I had to say something. It was the only explanation I could think of for my interest in this case without telling the truth.
Sam Spade
But you were making a pigeon out of me.
Lorraine Kilcorse
I don't know about such things, Sam. All I know is I'm here in time to warn you. You mustn't walk out of here with that money. They may kill you to get it back.
Sam Spade
They already did. They're combing the wreckage of that car right now looking for my body.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Then Tommy was right. They did mean to kill him.
Sam Spade
How'd he get the rumble while he was in prison?
Lorraine Kilcorse
From another man that killed course framed. He was in for life so it was safe for him to talk.
Sam Spade
Hey, you're Gallas.
Ernie Nogales
That Carter they just drove up. I think that's Mr. Kilco.
Sam Spade
What's your hurry?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Don't let me go.
Sam Spade
Come on. What's your hurry?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Tommy's out there in that cab. I've got to warn him.
Sam Spade
Or a tip off kill course. Which is it?
Lorraine Kilcorse
No, Sam, you've got to believe me.
Sam Spade
Sit down. Stop that.
Ernie Nogales
You two have fun.
Sam Spade
I'm getting out of here. Go ahead. Now listen, sweet Lorraine, you may as well save your breath for those explanations. You're staying right here until the Cape is all wrapped up.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Here he comes. Have you got a gun, Sam?
Sam Spade
Yeah.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Well, you'd better have it ready. But Sam, there's no goddess.
Leonard Kilcorse
I want to see him.
Sam Spade
He was called out of town, sir. I'm in charge. You must have killed Cors.
Leonard Kilcorse
That's right. I want to know why you people have been interfering with my business. It might interest you to know that this building site's on an old Spanish land grant. Title's very shaky. I'll run an eight lane highway straight through the middle of it and turn the rest of it into a game preserve. That's what I do to people who double cross me.
Sam Spade
I tried to tell Mr. Nogales that, sir. He wouldn't listen to me. He tipped Tommy off for a split of the hundred grand. But I knew sooner or later we'd have to answer to you, Mr. Kilcorse.
Leonard Kilcorse
Oh, what's that?
Sam Spade
Here's your hundred grand, sir. Count it.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Sam.
Sam Spade
Well, well, well, well.
Leonard Kilcorse
What's your name, son?
Sam Spade
Sam Spade, sir.
Leonard Kilcorse
I'm glad to meet an honest lad. Well, come along. You too, young lady. We'll all walk out together.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Sam, what are you? What?
Leonard Kilcorse
Spade, huh?
Sam Spade
Yes, sir. I'm a private detective, but I'm ambitious.
Leonard Kilcorse
Politics?
Sam Spade
Yes, sir.
Leonard Kilcorse
Well, we'll run you for assembly in the Meantime, I believe there's an opening in one of the public services. Garbage disposal, executive end, of course. Where the devil is that man with my car? Oh, there he is. You drop around to my office in the morning.
Sam Spade
Thank you and good night, Mr. Kilcox.
Leonard Kilcorse
Drive on, Horace, back to the city.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Oh, Sam, how could you? All those lies and just handing over the money like that. It wasn't yours.
Sam Spade
It wasn't Tommy's either, sweetheart. Get in.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Well, Tommy, are you all right?
Ernie Nogales
Yeah.
Sam Spade
Drive us across the bridge, Tommy, will you? Yeah.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Tommy.
Ernie Nogales
Yeah.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Tommy, I'm afraid we'll have to do without the money. Yeah, Sam gave it to Mr. Kilcorse.
Sam Spade
Yeah.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Now, don't get excited, Tommy. I'm sure Sam had a reason. Didn't you, Sam?
Sam Spade
Yeah. I mean, that was marked money from a payroll job.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Oh, then it won't do him any good.
Sam Spade
It'll send him up for a good long stretch if the eyewitness story that goes along with it is good enough. And you're just the girl to tell it, sweetheart. Am I right, Tommy?
Ernie Nogales
Yeah.
Sam Spade
At end of report already.
Effie
But, Sam.
Sam Spade
Yeah?
Effie
What happened? Who were the five men in the car? The ones who shot at that Plymouth in the mistaken belief that you were in it?
Sam Spade
Their names are of little account, Effie. Suffice it to say that Kilcore pointed his pudgy finger at them in the hopes of keeping the charge of attempted murder out of his indictment. But I was too clever. I identified them.
Effie
But, Sam, you didn't see anything but their cigars glowing in the darkness.
Sam Spade
Have you never heard of Sherlock Holmes monograph and the 49 varieties of tobacco ash?
Narrator/Announcer
You fool.
Effie
But. But, Sam, Sherlock Holmes is only the segment of someone's imagination. He's a fictional detective.
Sam Spade
Well, you mean.
Effie
Oh, Sam, you're tired.
Sam Spade
Yes, I am.
Effie
It's affected your mind winning all that money. Now, you just sit here and rest, all right? Think of the snowy mountaintops and blue skies. I'll just go and tight this up.
Sam Spade
Snowy mountaintops. Winter sports yet.
Narrator/Announcer
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Effie
Well, here it is, Sam. And not that it made any difference. But how did you guess that she wasn't Mrs. Kilcor's?
Sam Spade
Simple. Kilcorse doesn't recognize her.
Effie
But Sam, that was after you denounced her.
Sam Spade
I did no such thing.
Effie
From the report, Sam in black and white, quote, why did you tell me you were Kilcore's wife? Unquote. At that point, you assumed that she was not Mrs. Leonard Kilcor's.
Sam Spade
I did not. I merely wondered why she had told me.
Effie
Well, with all the lies she told, you might have assumed anything she said was totally devoid of truth.
Sam Spade
And I did, sweetheart. I did.
Effie
Oh. Oh, well, that's a relief. I was afraid for a while she'd taken you in.
Sam Spade
What's that got to do with the truth?
Effie
Good night, Sam.
Sam Spade
Good night, sweetheart.
Narrator/Announcer
The adventures of Sam Spade, Dashiell Hammett's famous private detective, are produced and directed by William Spear. Sam Spade is played by Howard Duff. Loreen Tuttle is Effie. Sadie Thompson appeared as Lorraine Kilcourse. The adventures of Sam Spade are written for radio by Bob Tolman and Gil Dowd. Musical direction by Luck Gluskin. Score composed by Renee Garrick. Join us again next Sunday when author Dashiell Hammett and producer William Speer join forces for another adventure with Sam Spade, brought to you by Wild Root Cream Oil. Again and again, the choice of men who put good grooming first. This is Dick Joy reminding you to get Wild Root Cream oil, Charlie. It keeps your hair in trim. You see, it's non alcoholic, Charlie. It's made with soothing lanolin. You better get Wild Root Cream oil, Charlie. Start using it today. You'll find that you will have a tough time, Charlie, keeping all the gals away. Hiya, baldy. Get Wild Root right away. This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
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Narrator/Announcer
The Adventures of Sam Spade Detective Brought to you by Wild Root Cream Oil Hair tonic, the non alcoholic hair tonic that contains lanolin. Wild Root Cream Oil again and again. The choice of men who put good grooming first.
Effie
Sam Spade Detective Agency.
Sam Spade
Sam, sweetheart, any calls?
Effie
Only one, Sam. Lieutenant Dundee of Homicide. He wants you to drop around so they can get your formal statement.
Narrator/Announcer
No.
Sam Spade
Hurry. Not now.
Effie
He told me what happened, Sam. I'm sorry.
Sam Spade
Yeah, so am I. I guess he
Effie
was one of your oldest friends, wasn't he?
Sam Spade
You don't make any friends in this business. Have he? You can write that in your book now and I'll give you the rest of it when I get there.
Effie
You sound tired, Sam. Wouldn't you rather just.
Sam Spade
What, baby?
Effie
Well, go home and, you know, just put it off until tomorrow.
Sam Spade
Yeah, maybe I. No, no. I'll get it off my chest tonight. Stay there, Effie. I'll come on down and dictate my report on the Dick Foley caper.
Narrator/Announcer
Nigel Hammett, America's leading detective fiction writer and creator of Sam Spade, the Hard Boiled Private Eye, and William Speer, radio's outstanding producer, Director of mystery and crime drama, join their talents to make your hair stand on end with the Adventures of Sam Spade presented by the makers of Wild Root Crew Oil for the hair. No two ways about it, folks. Hair that's well groomed can make all the difference in the world to a person's overall appearance. That's why so many men, women, boys and girls are turning to the famous non alcoholic hair tonic with lanolin Wild Root Cream Oil. Wild Root Cream Oil grooms your hair neatly and naturally relieves dryness, removes loose dandruff. If you haven't tried it before, you'll want to get Wild Root Cream Oil in a new 25 cent get acquainted size. Yes, get Wild Root Cream Oil again and again. The choice of men and women and children, too. And now, with Howard Duff starring as Spade, Wild Root brings to the air the greatest private detective of them all in the Adventures of Sam Spade.
Sam Spade
Nuts.
Effie
Oh, here, Sam, let me.
Sam Spade
Am I that shaky?
Effie
Say when.
Sam Spade
Just to the top of the glass.
Effie
Now, that's enough. You'll spill it.
Sam Spade
Yeah.
Effie
Sam, what you said over the phone about not making any friends in this business, you didn't really mean that, did you?
Narrator/Announcer
Forget it.
Sam Spade
You can label this. Oh, file on Dick Foley.
Ernie Nogales
Date.
Sam Spade
Fill it in.
Effie
Yes, sir.
Sam Spade
To Dundee at Homicide, I guess. From Samuel sway. License number 137596. The facts are all here. If you can dig a formal statement out of it, you're welcome. I'd known Dick Foley ever since I took out my license. We'd worked several big capers together back in my days as a Continental lot, he and Mickey Linehan and I. Then he and Mickey opened their own office. Foley and Linehan Private Investigations. Five years back, Mickey stopped the slug, and since then, the sign on the door read Dick Foley Detective Agency. I'd seen Dick maybe four or five times in the last half a dozen years just to have a drink and chew the fat about the good old days. He never talked about his private life. I assumed he didn't have any. So when I went to his office day before yesterday in response to his call, I was surprised to find him in a clinch with one of the most beautiful nails I've ever seen.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Oh.
Dick Foley
Oh. Oh, Sam.
Sam Spade
Well, shall I come back after lunch?
Dick Foley
Oh, Sam, this is Maxine, my wife.
Sam Spade
Well, you don't deserve it, but I'm happy for you.
Effie
I'll return the compliment. Sam, I've wanted to meet you for years, but Dick wouldn't introduce me.
Dick Foley
Now you know why. Well, you run along, honey. Sam's here on business.
Effie
All right, Dick, you can bring Sam home to dinner if you like.
Dick Foley
There's plenty if he's not too busy, but don't count on that.
Effie
Well, try anyway, won't you, Sam?
Sam Spade
I will indeed.
Effie
Bye now.
Dick Foley
Draw up a chair, Sam. Sit down.
Sam Spade
Oh, yeah. What's on your mind there?
Dick Foley
You remember Claude Spicer, that grifter I sent over for that jewelry store hike back in 43.
Sam Spade
You never told me you were married, Dick.
Dick Foley
I'm very happily married. Now, please pay attention.
Sam Spade
Claude Spicer. Yeah, yeah, I remember the caper. Wasn't there a dame involved?
Dick Foley
Well, Spicer had a girlfriend, but the cops gave her a good bill of health. Spicer went up for a five year stretch. They spun him last month.
Sam Spade
Whatever happened to that dame?
Dick Foley
Now, look about Spicer.
Sam Spade
He gunning for you, you hit it. How? Scared of Maria?
Dick Foley
Well, enough to ask you for help, Sam.
Sam Spade
What's eating them? Just revenge.
Dick Foley
Sam, I wouldn't tell this to anybody but you, but all the facts of that caper didn't come out at that time. I saw to that.
Sam Spade
How come?
Dick Foley
Well, I couldn't have stayed in business in San Francisco if it had been generally known that my partner was the inside man on that jewelry store heist.
Sam Spade
Mickey?
Dick Foley
Yeah, Mickey Linehan. Ah, you and I are both great at choosing partners, Sam. They both deserved what they got.
Sam Spade
Only one difference. I sent up the killer that plugged my partner. Some people thought the way he gave evidence at Spice's murder trial wasn't so hot.
Dick Foley
Well, he was alibi'd, Sam. In fact, the robbery was his alibi for the murder. I don't know how he managed it. I've been trying for five years to figure it out. Spice is afraid I might succeed someday. That's why he's out to get me.
Sam Spade
What's he waiting for?
Dick Foley
Oh, I don't know. He won't do it simple. He'll have a fancy plan like the other time. He's tricky.
Sam Spade
Where's he staying?
Dick Foley
At the Belvedere. Here's his mug. I kept a plant in the building for a couple of days, but he stayed holed up in his room. I think he spotted me.
Sam Spade
Okay, Deck, I'll give it a buzz.
Dick Foley
Now, wait a minute, Sam.
Sam Spade
Yeah?
Dick Foley
I'm not asking you to do this for love. Standard fee, 25 and whiskey money.
Sam Spade
Okay, forget it. This one's on. In the elevator on my way out, I studied a picture of Claude Spicer on the old police circular Dick had given me. But a picture in the back of my mind kept getting in the way. It was Dick Foley's wife, Maxine. When I hit the street, I still saw her face before me. And it was no picture, only pretty
Effie
as Sam, I waited for you. I've got to talk to you.
Sam Spade
My pleasure. Shall we confer in an adjacent cafe?
Effie
Wherever you say. Only I don't want Dick to know.
Sam Spade
Then you shouldn't have Married a detective?
Effie
Please.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Sam.
Sam Spade
How's this? Black watch?
Effie
Yeah.
Sam Spade
Looks dark enough.
Effie
Oh, that booth in the corner.
Lorraine Kilcorse
It's secluded.
Sam Spade
Why not slide in? Oh, no. Over here, stupid. Not facing the street.
Effie
Sorry. I'm not much good at this sort of thing. Sam, I'm not asking you to tell me what it is, but if he's in really bad trouble, I think I have a right to know.
Sam Spade
What makes you think he's in trouble?
Effie
Well, I'm not blind. You can't live with a man and not sense it when something goes wrong.
Sam Spade
I never thought Dick was the type to show it.
Effie
Oh, he's. He's tried to hide it from me, and I haven't said anything. I thought if he wanted me to know, he'd tell me.
Sam Spade
It was a wise thought, hold onto it.
Effie
Well, I meant to, but then a terrible possibility crossed my mind. Sam, it isn't me, is it?
Sam Spade
In what way?
Effie
Well, you know what I mean. He's been away from home nights so much lately and he. He questions me so closely about where I go and who I see and so on, and I. Well, I may as well ask you right out. Did he hire you to check up on me? Then that is it?
Sam Spade
No.
Effie
You're not lying to me, Sam?
Sam Spade
Why should I?
Effie
Dick says you're almost his oldest friend. He's talked so much about you and
Sam Spade
he must have told you. I don't do that type of work.
Effie
Why do you keep looking at me?
Sam Spade
Sorry. Trying to place you, Maxine. I keep thinking I've seen you someplace before.
Effie
Oh, it must have been my picture. I was an actress.
Sam Spade
Yeah. Picture. Yeah. Maybe that was it.
Effie
Why do you say it like that?
Sam Spade
Like what?
Effie
As if you were angry with me.
Sam Spade
Because I just got the caption on the picture.
Effie
Sam, wait.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Come back.
Sam Spade
Yes, I had. And the caption was from a newspaper, circa 1943. And it reads, actress Lovely. Cleared in Lanahan slaying. I flashed my tin star at the room. Clerk at the Belvedere learned that Claude Spicer was in and stuck around to make sure the clerk didn't buzz the room to tip him off. Around 4 in the PM Spicer went out, very dressed up, umbrella, gloves and all. He walked down Geary to Grant and turned north. A cold San Francisco drizzle started blowing up from the bay. I wished I'd brought my overcoat. A half a block up from California, he entered Grayson's Jewelry Store. A peek through the Rains Creek show window. After him inside, pawing eagerly through a tray full of diamond clips while A long suffering clerk eyed her hopelessly from his side of the counter. Was the actress lovely? Maxine shot Spicer a quick glance of recognition as he entered, but they didn't speak. He took up a pose of gentlemanly patience, shrugged his eyebrows sympathetically at the clerk and leaned elegant. And his umbrella. While Maxine found fault with every piece of jewelry that was shoved in front of it. The bored expression left his face only once. That was when the clerk opened the vault and brought out some unset stones. Their act may have been fooling the clerk, but it was as plain as the nose on Spice's face. A very plain nose. It was that they were sizing up the joint for a pushover. Maxine left first. He stayed long enough to buy a cigarette lighter and then followed her out. As I took out after him, I stopped to read the sticker on the inside of the glass door. It said, these promises protected by Dick Foley Detective Agency. Maxine was waiting for him at the corner. I grabbed up a Chinese newspaper and used it to listen behind. But I needn't have bothered. They didn't seem to care. Well, are you happy? Ought to be about a million bucks.
Effie
Why are you so disagreeable? You ought to be feeling good.
Sam Spade
Feeling good?
Narrator/Announcer
Five years I come out to find
Sam Spade
my girl married to the joker that sent me up.
Effie
You didn't think it was such a bad idea at the time.
Sam Spade
Well, I do now. Well, after tonight, we'll go east. You and me together, baby.
Effie
He'll catch up with us wherever we go.
Sam Spade
Oh, he shouldn't live so long.
Effie
How do you mean that?
Sam Spade
Just like it sounds, baby. Bye.
Effie
Oh, don't leave.
Sam Spade
I'm gonna get some sleep. I'll need a clear head.
Effie
Claude, I. I don't want to be alone.
Sam Spade
Oh, not even tonight?
Effie
I don't want to be alone.
Sam Spade
See you later, honey.
Ernie Nogales
Bye.
Sam Spade
Bye. He went straight back to the Belvedere. No stops. Picked up his key at the desk, no messages. Took the elevator to the eighth floor, let himself into room 809, hung out the Do Not Disturb sign, closed, and locked the door behind him. I kept a plan on it till around midnight. Then I lifted the Do Not Disturb car from the doorknob and wedged it into the crack of the door. It was a crafty move, and I had just finished doing it craftily when the door opened again in my face. Huh? Who are you? What are you doing here? Nothing, sir. I. I'm making a survey.
Ernie Nogales
What?
Sam Spade
I'm from the Trotter Pole. Trotter Pole? It's like the gallop pole, but we're not in so much of a hurry. Yeah, Just kindly answer this question as a Democrat. Do you believe Dewey? Huh? I picked up the do not disturb card and wedged it back into the crack of his door, as any house dick knows. Except, of course, Tiny Stover, the night peeper at the Belvedere. If anybody opens the door like that, the card will fall out and somebody will always hang it on the knob. Another thing Tiny doesn't know is never to draw to an inside straight. We played nine different kinds of poker until 5am when I thought I'd go up and have another look. All was quiet on the 8th floor. From the elevator bank I could see room 809. The morning paper was shoved under his door, and my do not disturb sign was apparently where I had planted it. I tiptoed up to make sure. Huh? Who are you? What do you want? Me? The paper boy, Sir. Your morning paper. You get around. Well, well. Good news in the paper, sir. Interesting. Interesting. Jewelry store heist up on Grant Avenue. Oh, yes, sir. Our paper only comes what? I grabbed the paper from under 805. It was the headline I could have expected if Spicer had left his room without my knowing it. Grayson's Jewelry Store, the shop he and Maxine had cased that afternoon, had been taken for an estimated million bucks in uncut gems. But Spicer's door hadn't been opened and there was no other exit. I sat down and thought, and what I thought of was that sticker on the front door of Grayson's said, these promises protected by Dick Foley Detective Agency. When the 6am Oakland Ferryboat fell its way blindly out of the slip, Claude Spicer was aboard, and so was I. Should have been getting lighter, but it wasn't. The fog was thickening over the harbor and most of the passengers were inside drinking coffee. Spicer didn't go in. He climbed up to the boat deck and stood at the rail under the pilot's house. I planted between two wet paint signs and waited. Not for long. I couldn't make out any features on the man who came up and joined them. They stood face to face, not more than a foot apart, and talked in voices that couldn't get to me through the racket of the foghorns in the harbor. What spoke loud enough for me to hear was a gun. They seemed to fall into each other's arms, then collapsed in a heap on the deck. When I got to the spot, only the dead one was there. It was Spicer the other man had disappeared around the corner of the deck house. A ray of light from the pilot's window swept over him and I saw gunmetal shine in his hand and then spin out over the rail as he threw it.
Dick Foley
What? Oh, it's you, Sam. I was afraid you'd lost him.
Sam Spade
What did you do it for, Dick?
Dick Foley
I had my reason, Sam. Now trust me. I'll keep you in the clear.
Sam Spade
How long? As long as I go on playing sucker for you.
Dick Foley
What do you think I hired you for?
Sam Spade
Maybe I was supposed to say you killed him in self defense. Maybe I was supposed to see him making passes at your wife if you needed that.
Dick Foley
But Sam, you've got.
Sam Spade
I've worked for killers before. I've even worked for thieves. But not for a detective that knocks over a place he's supposed to be protecting.
Dick Foley
Sam, it's not a.
Sam Spade
Save it for the cops, Dick. I'm turning you in when we get to Oak.
Dick Foley
No, you're not, Sam.
Narrator/Announcer
Then come back here.
Ernie Nogales
Let go me.
Dick Foley
I'm going over the side. If you try to stop me, you're going with me.
Sam Spade
He fought away from me, got one foot over the rail and kicked out at me with the other. It caught me on the point of the chin. I stumbled forward and grabbed offline. I must have caught him by the belt just as he jumped. I remember something pulling me halfway over the rail and trying to get free of it. I did, but not soon enough. I was in midair and the black water came rushing up to meet me.
Narrator/Announcer
The makers of Wild Root Cream oil are presenting the weekly Sunday adventure of Dashiell Hammett's famous private detective, Sam Spade. Now here's important news on good grooming. If you want the well groomed look that helps you get ahead socially and on the job, Listen. Recently, thousands of people from coast to coast who bought wild Root Cream Oil for the first time were asked, how does wild Root cream oil compare with the hair tonic you previously used? The results were amazing. Better than four out of five who replied said they preferred wild Root cream oil. Remember, non alcoholic wild root cream oil contains lanolin. It grooms the hair naturally, relieves dryness and removes loose, ugly dandruff. So if you want your hair to be more attractive than ever before, get the generous new 25 cent size of Wild Root Cream Oil, America's leading hair tonic. On sale at all drug and toilet goods counters. It's also available in larger economy bottles and the handy new tube. Get Wild Root Cream Oil again and again. The choice of men and women and children too, by the way, smart girls use wild root cream oil too and mothers say it's grand for training children's hair. And now back to the Dick Foley caper. Tonight's adventure with Sam Spade.
Sam Spade
I found myself mechanically keeping afloat somehow and trying to get out of my coat. I felt heavy and logged, as if I'd swallowed gallons of water. The murk hung low and thick. There was nothing else to be seen anywhere. I swallowed what felt like several more gallons before I got rid of the coat. From out of the misty fog blanket, from every direction in a dozen different keys. From near and far, foghorns sounded. I stopped swimming and floated on my back, trying to determine my whereabouts. After a while I picked out the moaning. Evenly spaced blasts of the Alcatraz siren. But they came out of the fog without direction. Seemed to beat down on me from straight above. I was somewhere in San Francisco Bay and that was all I knew. And I suspected the current was sweeping me out toward the Golden Gate. Then a light came up ahead of me. Suddenly, a boat passing a few yards away. I lifted my head and screamed. But the boat siren crying its warning drowned out my shouts. Went on past and the fog closed in behind it. Then I heard a new sound. Seagulls. I swam towards it and it seemed to get lighter. Part of it was the dawn light beginning to cut through the fog blanket. But there was also a strange looking man standing on the water and waving a green lantern back and forth. I yelled at him to wait for me and a seagull got off his hat and flew away. When I got closer, I saw that it was not a man, but only a buoy channel type. I used all the strength I had left to drag myself up in the base of it and let it rock me to sleep. Hey. Hey, me.
Dick Foley
Pour some more of the brandy into him, Ghost.
Sam Spade
Yeah. Here, get some of this done. Where are we? Hey, it didn't happen. You can tell that by the smell. Oh, Fisherman's Wharf. Yeah, take it easy. We got ambulance coming. You're going to the hospital. No, no, no. I'll be okay. Give me a hand. Yeah, okay. Hey, you, do us a favor, will you? Don't fall down till you get out
Ernie Nogales
of sight this time.
Sam Spade
We're tired of picking you up. I thanked the two kindly old fisher folk for their interest in my welfare. Tottered up the pier, fell into a taxi and went home. While I soaked out some of my aches and pains and chills, I did some stewing about the caper so far. And stewed up enough anger to carry me through to the finish. I checked the Coast Guard for news of Dick Foley. They told me his body hadn't been recovered yet. I got dressed and went over to his office. The cops hadn't been there. They went through the file cabinet. And what I found on the Foley private had me so interested that I didn't hear Maxine come in until she closed the door.
Effie
What are you looking for?
Sam Spade
You, baby. I'm for you.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Sam.
Sam Spade
Come here.
Effie
Oh, Sam.
Sam Spade
Nice.
Effie
Oh, you dirty.
Sam Spade
Now, don't be mad, Maxine. A gun makes a woman bulge in the wrong place.
Effie
It's not my gun.
Sam Spade
We'll see.
Lorraine Kilcorse
Sam.
Sam Spade
Shut up. Now, starting with the rap. Spicer went up for the same pattern. The way you worked this one tells me how you worked it. The first time you get something on a private detective. The first time? Five years ago. It was Dick's partner, Mickey Linehan. I don't know what Spicer had on him, but I do know he forced Dick to knock over Grayson's jewelry store last night.
Lorraine Kilcorse
I won't listen to you.
Sam Spade
Okay, I'll talk to myself. I'm not saying you killed Mickey Linehan. But Dick did frame an alibi for you, didn't he? Didn't he?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Oh, you're hurting me.
Sam Spade
Good. Try spending a night swimming around in circles in the middle of the harbor sometime. See how you like that.
Effie
All right. It's true. Dick did help me out of that old jam. I'm not ashamed of it. I'm proud. Our love was that important to him.
Sam Spade
Now, Spicer, that same old double cross. Only this time I'm standing where Dick did five years ago. Dick was set up as a patsy, the same way Mickey Lanahan was. But he got smart and pulled the trigger first.
Effie
Stop it.
Sam Spade
Stop it. Where did that hurt, you fool?
Lorraine Kilcorse
I love Dick. Yeah, I loved him.
Effie
That's something you can't understand, but it
Lorraine Kilcorse
happens that way no matter what people are.
Sam Spade
You sound as if you really mean that. But you're a little late, aren't you?
Lorraine Kilcorse
He's not dead. I'm sure he isn't.
Sam Spade
If he's not, he's really in trouble.
Effie
What do you mean by that?
Sam Spade
I found something here in the files that Dick left just in case Spicer got to him first.
Effie
What is it?
Sam Spade
A confession to Mickey Linehan's murder.
Effie
That's impossible.
Sam Spade
Were you there?
Effie
What are you gonna do with it?
Sam Spade
Turn it over to the police. But if he's still alive, it still counts. Unless he shows and Revokes it, but I don't think he will.
Effie
Why?
Sam Spade
Because I won't back up a self defense plea on the spice of shooting.
Effie
But you were Dick's friend. You were his friend.
Sam Spade
I wouldn't ask him to do it for me.
Effie
Then what can I do for him? I'll do anything. Anything? Anything at all.
Sam Spade
Well, if he stays away, he's as good as dead. If he comes back, you'll get a jury trial. And if there are more men than women in the panel, he'd probably be acquitted on your testimony alone.
Effie
Do you really think he might have a chance?
Sam Spade
With a jury, there's always a chance.
Effie
But where is he? How can I get word to him?
Sam Spade
Well, if he's not fish food by now, there's one sure way of smoking him out. Something I can do, nobody else.
Effie
Please, tell me. Anything.
Sam Spade
Sign a confession of your own.
Effie
Confession?
Sam Spade
Not Mickey Linehan's murder or anything they might nail you for. Swear that you shot Spicer. You can always reneg. Make both of you look good sacrificing for each other. How about it?
Effie
All right. Tell me what to write.
Sam Spade
I did. She signed it. I had Effie dispatch it to all the papers and news services, and then I brought it down to the hall. Naturally, you didn't believe a word of her confession, Dundee. But when I took you aside and explained my stratagem, you endorsed it. Hardly. And had her booked. She pressed my hand and thanked me. The look of resignation on her face was so real, it was hard to believe she was faking. When she turned her back to follow the matron down the corridor, I saw why. On the back of her coat there was a smear of white paint. I remembered the what? The wet paint signs on the Oakland Ferry boat. Dick Foley gave himself up an hour after her confession. Hit the street, screamed and yelled at everybody in Homicide, trying to convince them that Maxine was innocent and he should take the. But I'm afraid I queered that when we confronted him with the autopsy surgeon's report, he tried to bluff even then when he read it.
Dick Foley
Pellet A, entered right side between third and fourth ribs, penetrated left lung. Pellet B, pleuromembrane side wound, punctured. Well, so what, Sam?
Sam Spade
All three on the right side angling up, you see?
Dick Foley
No. I don't know why you even saw me on that boat. You saw me throw the gun over.
Sam Spade
Oh, cut it out, Dick. What I saw was in the dark. But you two men were facing each other directly. If I were gonna drop a man fast at Close range, face to face like that. I would not put the gun in my left hand, twist it around, straining my wrist in the process and pull the trigger with my thumb. Unless I were left handed, double jointed and a trickier shot than you are. I'd blast them straight through the middle.
Dick Foley
All right. All right. Yes, it was Maxine.
Sam Spade
Well, that's good. Maybe you can get cured. Now. Why don't you open up some more? Let me put it down like it was business.
Dick Foley
All right, sir.
Sam Spade
Number one. Maxine killed your partner, Mickey Linehan, five years ago. Probable motive to eliminate him and send Spicer up for it.
Dick Foley
Yeah, she. She didn't figure on Spicer being smart enough to confess to the robbery and that alibi him for the murder.
Sam Spade
Two, you perjured yourself to clear Mac. Scene of the murder, motive to prevent the truth about your partner from coming out, and Maxine, who was motive enough for anything.
Dick Foley
Cut it out, will you?
Lorraine Kilcorse
Sorry.
Sam Spade
Three, Spicer forced you to team up with him in the jewelry heist. How?
Dick Foley
Well, he threatened to make a full confession as accessory to Mickey's killing. I would have put the whole works on Maxine and leave him in the clear.
Sam Spade
Yeah. Can't be tried twice for the same crime. Four, you decided to rub out Spicer whether you could beat the rap or not and clear the books once and for all. So you pretended to play along with him, told Maxine to do the same and called me in a zumpire. Yeah.
Dick Foley
Yeah, I'm. Sam. I'm sorry, I. Why couldn't you lay off Maxine? Why did you have to? Oh, I thought you were my friend.
Sam Spade
And that's about it, period. End the friendship.
Effie
Oh, you mean the confession that you tricked her into making turned out to that said Effie. Oh, what'll happen to him? What about Dick Foley?
Narrator/Announcer
Dick?
Sam Spade
Well, they got him on a number of things, I suppose. May take some time out of him, but I think he'll be an okay
Effie
guy again with her out of the way.
Sam Spade
With her out of the way. Sam, go and type it up, will ya? It's late. I'm gonna get out of here.
Narrator/Announcer
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Effie
Well, here it is. Sam, I know how you must feel, so I won't.
Sam Spade
What's your hurry?
Effie
Well, I thought. Well, you know, how you always feel.
Sam Spade
Look, sweetheart, Dick Foley was a private dick. So what?
Effie
You mean you can bring yourself to talk about it?
Sam Spade
Sure, go ahead. Try me.
Effie
Well, assignment seems terribly complicated, I suppose because Mr. Foley was in the profession and thinks like you do.
Sam Spade
Up to a point. Effie, what's bothering you?
Effie
Well, why did he call you in? You another private detective. And he knew how smart you are and all.
Sam Spade
And, I don't know, maybe he thought, well, if I turned up anything, I'd look the other way.
Effie
Do you think that could ever happen to you, Sam? That's a clever phrase you dictated. He called me in a zampire. That's baseball. But if he was so clever, why didn't he win? Sam?
Sam Spade
His mistake. Evie was trying a quadruple play which has never been heard of in the history of baseball or crime. All he wanted was to bat Maxine home safe. But it usually figures when three men are out the side retires.
Effie
Oh, well, I don't understand baseball, Sam.
Sam Spade
That's all right. Football will be here soon anyway.
Effie
But I don't know.
Sam Spade
Good night, Libby. Good night, sweetheart.
Narrator/Announcer
The Adventures of Sam Spade, Ashell Hammett's famous private detective are produced and directed by William Spears. Sam Spade is played by Howard Duff. Loreen Tuttle is Effie. The Adventures of Sam Spade are written for radio by Bob Tallman and Gil Dowd. Musical direction by Lud Gluskin with score composed by Renee Garaghan. Join us again next Sunday when author Dashiell Hammett and producer William Speer join forces for another adventure with Sam Spade, brought to you by Wild Root Cream Oil. Again and again, the choice of men who put good grooming first. This is Dick Joy reminding you to get Wild Root Cream oil, Charlie. It keeps your hair in trim. You see, it's non alcoholic, Charlie. It's made with soothing lanolin. You better get Wild Root Cream Oil, Charlie. Start using it today. You'll find that you will have a tough time, Charlie, keeping all the gals away. Hiya, baldies. Get wild root right away. This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Sam Spade
Thanks for joining us here at 1001
Narrator/Announcer
radio crime solvers for the Adventures of
Sam Spade
Sam Spade Private Detective. We bring new episodes every Sunday at noon Eastern time and Wednesday at 5pm Eastern Time.
Narrator/Announcer
Until our next show, everyone stay safe and we'll be back soon.
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Podcast: 1001 Radio Crime Solvers
Host: Jon Hagadorn
Featured Series: The Adventures of Sam Spade
Original Air Date (Radio Drama): September 19, 1948
Podcast Release: February 22, 2026
Episode Length: ~1 hr
This episode of 1001 Radio Crime Solvers presents two full classic episodes from The Adventures of Sam Spade, the iconic hard-boiled detective drama. The stories, “The Hot Hundred Grand Caper” and “The Dick Foley Caper,” are brimming with witty repartee, moral ambiguity, tangled relationships, and razor-sharp dialogue, immersing listeners in the seedy underbelly of postwar San Francisco. Sam Spade's cases take him through high-stakes gambling dens, betrayals among old friends, blackmail, murder, and, as always, a touch of romance.
(Begins at 03:37)
Sam reports back to Lorraine at her apartment. Her “brother” Tommy is present and dismissed.
Twists mount: Lorraine admits more layers—Nogales is blackmailing not Leonard, but really her brother Tommy, a recent ex-con she’s anxious to protect.
Lorraine proposes Sam “prove the roulette wheel’s crooked” to stop Nogales, offering money for him to gamble for evidence.
Their conversation spins with innuendo and sarcasm:
Sam returns to the club, wins back the $100K at the tables by reverse-engineering the wheel, and tries to engineer a safe getaway.
In a face-off with Nogales, Sam deciphers the real scam: Tommy, while in prison for Kilcorse, is being bought off with the rigged roulette wheel, turning ill-gotten gains into a ‘clean’ payout.
Lorraine’s real identity emerges; she’s not Kilcorse’s wife, but Tommy’s sister, involved to keep her brother safe.
Sam outmaneuvers all parties by returning the money to Kilcorse—now revealed as stolen payroll (marked bills)—setting up Kilcorse’s downfall.
(Begins at 33:34)
Sam’s Wry Wisdom:
Effie’s Skepticism:
The Classic Noir Tone:
Baseball Motif:
The radio drama, as presented, is brisk, wisecracking, world-weary, yet underwritten by an unmistakable moral code. Sam Spade’s narration is both sardonic and poetic, alternating between bitter wisecracks and personal confession. Effie, the loyal secretary, serves as both sidekick and shrewd audience surrogate, alternating concern and incredulity.
The dialogue is sharp, loaded with subtext, and classic noir metaphors. The mood is carried by jazz-infused orchestration and the hustle of mid-century San Francisco.